"You don't know when your chance will come, but it was today, and so you grab it with both hands," said Huntelaar, who was making his first appearance at this year's World Cup. "And it was fantastic."

Giovani Dos Santos gave the Mexicans the lead in the 48th minute, but Sneijder equalized for the Dutch in the 88th.

It was the first time Sneijder, who scored five goals at the last World Cup in South Africa, has found the net in Brazil.

Robben has already scored three goals for the Dutch at this year's tournament, but after earning the late penalty, he handed the ball to Huntelaar.

"Klaas is a great penalty taker. He was fresh, had just come on and I had faith in him," Robben said. "I asked him if he wanted to take it and he was very sure of himself."

Huntelaar and Sneijder scored the goals at the hot and steamy Arena Castelao, but it was Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal that may just deserve the credit for making a crucial tactical change during the second of two official cooling breaks.

As he did earlier against Australia, the master tactician again switched his team around in the second half, changing from the more defensive 5-3-2 system to the traditional Dutch attacking 4-3-3 formation.

"Yes, we escaped," Van Gaal said. "But we showed that we could create more chances with 4-3-3, and the players handled this shift very well."

Van Gaal said he made his critical switch during the second-half break, huddling with his players as they drank from bottles on the sideline.

"I moved to `Plan B' at the cooling break after (Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo) Ochoa made an amazing save," said Van Gaal, soon to be the manager at Manchester United. "That is a good way to take advantage of those breaks."

Ochoa had kept his team in the match with two great saves in the second half, but he was beaten by Sneijder's powerful drive and guessed wrong when diving in an attempt to stop Huntelaar's penalty.

The Mexicans had conceded only one goal in three group matches and looked like they would keep another clean sheet until the late collapse.

It was heartbreak again for Mexico, which has now reached the second stage of the World Cup six straight times without winning. The last time the team made the quarterfinals was when it hosted the tournament in 1986.

After the final whistle, the Mexican players collapsed, distraught on the turf while many of their fans were in tears.

Comments

I'm so glad Mexico lost. I hate that crooked corrupt country! They send their people over in rows, but when an American soldier accidently crossed over to Mexico, they locked him up. So, screw Mexico!!!

1.-Mexican player got on the dutch's way that is more than enough reason to get the call.2.- Glad Mexico lost,a couple of days ago the won a game, and the celebration end on arrest + city damages,We have to pay for police to babysit this idiots. AMERICANS go to a bar get some drinks and celebrate , American don't go out on the streets to destroy private property, Mexicans don't have respect for this country.GLAD to see Mexico go home.

And in related news... the grass grew a sixteenth of an inch resulting in cheers from the soccer fans used to watching nothing happen - word is three hundred of the die hard soccer fans passed out from the excitement of the huge growth spurt.

Good goodbye to the racist Mexican's shouting racial slurs and homophobic slurs at opponents. Goodbye to one of the worst human rights countries in the world. Karma to a country for the millions of Central American immigrants who have been killed, raped, and slaughtered and keep quiet by a liberal media. With 1% of the country actually being indigenous, the Mexican's have not strayed far from their Spanish/White conquistador roots. Shame on them and they got what they deserved.

really? You must have missed the riots in Detroit and Denver won the Stanley Cup. Hockey the white sport. The riots in Lexington when Kentucky won the NCAA. The riots in Boston after the Red Sox won the series and the police shot and killed a girl?

What has that got to do with helping Mexicans crossing the border illegally ??Do you know how many Americans have been murdered by illegals in our nation since 2001 ? More than have died in Iraq, Afghanistan and on 9/11 COMBINED ! Not to mention the number than have been Raped, Molested, Assaulted and Robbed .You made a good point about Detroit, Denver and Boston, we don`t need to import more animals into our nation .